Course Descriptions

TRADITIONS, LEGACIES, AND FRONTIERS OF DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY

This portion of the curriculum grounds students in the psychoanalytic, Jungian, archetypal, and phenomenological lineages of depth psychology, as well as in the contemporary flowering of these traditions that aid cultural, community, and ecological understanding and transformation.

Introduction to Decolonial Depth Psychology DPC 730, 2 units

This introductory course explores the theoretical and practical links among the four major concentrations of the CLE specialization: community psychology, indigenous psychologies, liberation psychologies, and ecopsychologies. Emerging critical philosophies of decoloniality and complex living systems from Africa and the Americas help to place the evolution of historical paradigms through which these psychologies have been understood as separate and dissociated in the past, and connected and interdependent in the present. Depth psychological theories and practices are also placed in historical and cultural perspective, emphasizing symbolic, creative, and healing dimensions of the work. Finally we will sort through how we are implicated in current First Nations activist demands for climate justice, sustainability, and defense of the earth.

Psychoanalytic Tradition: Social Psychoanalysis DPC 760, 2 units

Freud’s students, colleagues, and dissenters generated a body of work that extended the focus of psychoanalysis to the relation between psyche and culture. The works of key psychoanalysts who have made important contributions to this body of work are explored.

Jungian Psychology DPC 761, 2 units

The basic concepts of Jung’s late work such as the psychoid, synchronicity, spirit, psychological rebirth, collective consciousness, and the transcendent function will be explored in relation to the cultural context of his time and our own. We will analyze the links between Jung’s work and indigenous epistemologies and ontologies, contemporary biological theories, community-building, and current emergent social and political trends.

Archetypal Psychology DPC 762, 2 units

Archetypal psychology, as envisioned by James Hillman, moves beyond clinical inquiry and locates its identity within the Western imagination, finding affiliation with the arts, culture, and history of ideas. Its central aim is the appreciation and development of soul through the cultivation of the life of the imaginal. We investigate the history and central ideas of this rich psychological perspective, focusing on concepts such as archetype, image, seeing-through, and the soul of the world, anima mundi.

Psychosocial and Collective Trauma DPC 923, 2 units

The effects of many forms of collective woundings have been assimilated into medicalized and individualized diagnoses and psychological treatment models that are divorced from the historical and cultural contexts in which they occur. This has given rise to a vast literature on individual trauma and PTSD. Liberation psychology critiques this approach to disruptive events and calls attention to “collective” or “psychosocial trauma.” This course contextualizes the misery that is experienced in the face of destructive conditions and events that affect whole groups and communities. This approach will help us to understand the impacts of structural violence and racism, the experiences of marginalized groups that have been historically written out of individualized trauma theories, those who feel “misnamed” by such theories, and the unique political contexts that give rise to these interactions.

Community Dreamwork DPC 874, 1-1/3 units

This class will reclaim dreams as a community resource and practice methods (i.e., social dreaming, cultural dreaming, dream theater, communal vision questing) that allow us to hear the metaphorical resonance between dreaming and waking life, and to widen our perception to include the imaginal.

Depth Transformative Practices DPC 997, 0 units

Various schools of depth psychology have created therapeutic contexts for personal transformation and/or healing. These practices are related to transformative rituals and rites across cultures and history. Ecological, cultural, and organizational work has also created transformative practices. During the first two years of the program, students are expected to engage in a minimum of 60 hours of depth transformative practice within a relational context. Latitude is given to students to choose the form of this practice in accordance with their needs and interests. Examples of such practice may include, but are not limited to, individual depth psychotherapy, group dialogue work, community theater, facilitated vision questing, rites of passage, arts-based community work, appreciative inquiry. Students are invited to use this requirement to gain experience and further training in a group or community modality they hope to use in their work. Students are required to submit a proposal in advance of beginning and a log recording the hours they complete. Pass/No Pass.

Decolonial Philosophy DPC 925, 1.66 units

This introduction to decolonial philosophy leads to the questions of the coloniality of temporality and aesthetic experience that underlies the colonizing of imaginaries. Beneath the political, social, economic, and military domination of the colonized exists the colonization of the consciousness of the colonized. This course exposes aesthetic and affective dimensions of decolonial struggle and opens towards poietic engagements of the lives, histories, and senses of being of the excluded and colonized.

Frontiers of Depth Psychologies DPC 963, 2 units

Depth psychological theories and practices are placed in dynamic dialogue with ecopsychology, psychologies of liberation, and cultural studies from diverse cultural settings as we create a critical depth oriented community psychology for the 21st century. Contemporary work in Freudian, Jungian, archetypal, and phenomenological schools is explored, enabling students to begin to place their own evolving scholarship in dialogue with the frontiers of depth psychology.

CRITICAL COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, LIBERATION PSYCHOLOGY, ECOPSYCHOLOGY

These courses enlist us to create a depth psychologically informed critical and liberatory community and ecopsychology for the 21st century. Community psychology, liberation psychologies, and ecopsychology are placed in conversation with depth psychology to explore the interface between psyche, culture, and nature, as we seek to create paths for psychological, community, cultural, and environmental well-being.

Introduction to Critical Community Psychology DPC 700, 2 units

Students will be introduced to the history of community psychology and the application of critical theory to examine its concepts, methodologies, and frameworks within diverse socio-cultural, economic, and political contexts (i.e., social and human services, schools, youth development, the health care system, non-governmental, governmental, and community-based organizations). The process and outcome of the community mental health movement will be examined, showing how a depth psychological understanding of community assets and stressors, coping strategies, social networks, and social support contributes to the application of community-based approaches to holistic community health and well-being. Discourse on key concepts such as oppression, social class, ethnicity and racism, social justice, and social change will lead to the acquisition of practical skills in assessing community health and in utilizing lessons learned for social change and policy development.

Psychologies of Liberation DPC 781, 2 units

This course explores psychologies that attempt to understand and address the impact of colonialism and coloniality on individuals, communities, and eco-systems. Beginning with Fanon and Memmi’s descriptions of the impacts of colonial violence, racism, and exploitation, we locate the legacy of colonialism and neoliberal globalization in the contemporary world and in our own local communities and relationships. Through Freire and Martín-Baró we enter liberation psychology in the Latin American context, and explore the development of critical consciousness, critical dialogical pedagogy, prophetic imagination, and actions-in-solidarity to transform oppressive structures and to create libertory environments and public homeplaces. Our shared undertaking is to explore the possible roles of liberation psychologies in the healing of the sequelae of collective traumas, in the understanding and addressing of their roots, and in the co-creation of sustainable, just, and dynamically peaceful communities.

Indigenous Psychologies I DPC 710, 2 units

This class will highlight the historical, social/cultural, and psychological risk factors that Indigenous people experienced on contact with colonial settlers. Definitions of these will also be included to see variations through an Indigenous cultural lens and the impact on behaviors related to traditions, ceremonies, and way of life. Discussion will include psychological worldviews, Indigenous ways of thinking, and traditional knowledge shared by Indigenous scholars and elders. This will include the process and parts of stories shared by the keepers of Indigenous knowledge. In addition, this class will present an overview of modern Indian psychology and methodology, as well as Indigenous healing definitions. Ceremonies of Awakening are reviewed in relation to dreams, therapist and shaman parallels, and spiritual power.

Indigenous Psychologies II DPC 860, 2 units

Psychological knowledge with scientific ambitions has primarily emerged in the Western World. New movements around the world are seeking to create ownership of psychological and cultural knowledge in an expanded sense as a means of liberation from centuries of intellectual imposition. As a result, indigenous psychologies are proposing emic versus etic research, ethno-cultural methodologies, ethno-semantics, and ethno-epistemologies. These movements are furnishing the making of a promising Ethno-Depth Psychology. This course will address the plurality of perspectives and voices representing cultural analyses of depth psychology and psychological phenomena in diverse geographical settings. Students will critically apply indigenous psychologies’ methodologies, tools, and approaches and discern the interplay of intersubjectivity in the description of depth psychological cultural phenomena, as well as in the interaction of self- culture-ecology.

Community Building and Empowerment DPC 720, 2 units

Students will analyze studies on community participation and empowerment, learning to assess (diagnose) pathways of community change, and designing interventions to foster community health. Students will learn to apply community capacity building strategies, interventions, and assessments to promote community empowerment, organizing, mobilization, and social activism. Lastly, students will be exposed to the analysis and development of participatory community visioning, planning and action models, and community learning, fostering a sense of community efficacy to strengthen holistic community health.

Liberation Studies and Action DPC 965, 2 Units

Roderick Watts coined the term “liberation studies and action (LiSA),” reminding liberation psychologists that psychology is not sufficient for the challenges we face. We need to work in a transdiciplinary manner (i.e., arts, spirituality, economics, history, philosophy, civil resistance) to create the social movements that are needed to achieve greater justice, dynamic peace, and sustainability. This course will distill lessons learned from liberatory social movements that can be used in our current and future work.

Depth Psychology of Violence and Its Prevention DPC 731, 2 units

With the hope of deepening our capacities for the prevention of violence, we will explore the relationship between structural, intrapersonal, and interpersonal violence in a variety of cultural settings, and the psychological theories that account for it. Innovative community and ecological approaches to violence reduction programs will be presented.

Ecopsychology I: Earth Democracy DPC 732, 2 units

Ecopsychology is an important corrective to Western psychology by underscoring what many other societies have understood: that our human selves are part of a vast nexus that includes not only other selves, but animals, plants, earth, water, and sky. Ecopsychology helps us to rethink nature and psyche at once and together, and to illuminate our place as humans within the surrounding environment. Environmental justice helps us to focus not only on nature’s effects on us as humans, but on humans’ destructive effects on nature and the disproportionate distribution of these effects to marginalized (or disenfranchised) communities. These foundations help us to live and work to create what Vandana Shiva has named as Earth democracy, where economic justice and environmental responsibility supplant greed and violence.

Ecopsychology II: Environmental and Earth Justice DPC 847, 2 units

Ecopsychology introduces into Euro-American psychology knowledge common to Indigenous environmental justice leaders and their communities: the idea that all living beings are part of a complex web of interconnection, and that culturally embedded strategies for ecological sustainability are critical to the Earth’s future. Knowledge in this area can provide insights and opportunities for dialogue with Westernized modes of thought that not only separate humans from other-than-human nature, but segregate some communities from others and needed resources, disproportionately exposing them to toxicities, and other forms of violence. This course connects structural violence imposed on human communities with violence against other-than-human nature, emphasizing the role of racial disparities, neoliberal corporate and state interests in undermining local economies and ecologies, and environmental and earth justice movements that address this destruction.

Frontiers of Liberation Psychologies DPC 964, 1 unit

This course offers theoretical and experiential study of various participatory, dialogical, and restorative approaches being developed throughout the world to foster critical consciousness, build community, reconcile divisive differences, heal community trauma, transform oppressive social conditions, and imagine utopic possibilities.

Liberatory Pedagogy DPC 992, 2 units

In this culminating course, students create their philosophies of teaching, and then embody them as they teach the work that draws them into their dissertations and professional work beyond the dissertation. This course fulfills the oral exam requirement. Pass/No Pass.

APPROACHES TO GROUP AND COMMUNITY PRACTICE

These didactic-experiential classes introduce students to a variety of dialogical, somatic, and arts-based approaches to community issues and dynamics, building capacities to listen across differences, creatively address conflict and division, create pathways to individual and community healing in the aftermath of trauma, and to rehearse for desired futures.

Council Practice DPC 871, 2/3 unit

Circle and council practices build on ancient traditions of many cultures. They draw upon practices of deep listening to self and other, the honoring of contributions of all participants, and the sharing of leadership. Attention will be given to the use of council in educational and organizational environments.

Appreciative Inquiries DPC 872, 2/3 unit

In this experiential–didactic course, students will be introduced to the basic principles and practices associated with Appreciative Inquiry (AI) as a vehicle for group, organizational, and/or community transformation and change.

Theatre of the Oppressed DPC 873, 1-1/3 units

Founded on the principles of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Brechtian epic theatre, and Brazilian circus, Augusto Boal’s theatre techniques have been used by activists, therapists, educators, and artists on seven continents as a “rehearsal for revolution” in everyday life. Students in the class will be introduced to three of Boal’s theatrical formats: Image Theatre, Forum Theatre, and Cop-in-the-Head, engaging both the philosophical principles that drive the work and the techniques themselves.

Restorative Justice DPC 875, 2/3 unit

From Gacaca rituals in Rwanda to juvenile restorative justice courts in the U.S., people are exploring both old and new alternatives to retributive justice. In the hope of re-including perpetrators into the human community, practices are developed to share the effects of the action in question and to search for ways to make human recompense, opening the path for forgiveness, mutual understanding, and community inclusion.

Crafting Generative Questions DPC 876, 2/3 unit

Through the exploration of three dialogical processes (Public Conversation, Alternatives to Violence, and Clearness Committees), students will learn how to structure dialogue using generative questions to transform conflict, to facilitate nonviolent living, and for personal self-exploration in the company of others. The key role of generative questions in personal and community life will be explored theoretically and experientially.

Somatic Approaches to Trauma Healing DPC 877, 2/3 unit

Community-based somatic approaches to healing trauma, re-establishing a sense of trust in the wake of violence, and engendering resilience will be explored.

Reconciliation and Peacebuilding DPC 740, 2 units

This course explores how cycles of revenge can be interrupted, as well as how efforts of reconciliation and reparation in post-conflict situations can pave the path to ongoing and sustainable peace. The limits of peacebuilding in the aftermath of violent conflict will be confronted.

PARTICIPATORY FIELDWORK AND RESEARCH

Through participatory and dialogical fieldwork and research, students learn how to apprentice to community groups and issues, to be a witness to the ongoing work of such groups, to work collaboratively toward mutually desired transformations and actions, and to evaluate to what extent these goals have been reached. Research approaches—such as hermeneutic, phenomenological, critical, participatory action, and feminist—enable students to deeply engage a group’s questions and concerns, while deepening ethical discernment around issues of power and privilege.

Foundations for Research in Depth Psychology: Participatory Qualitative Research DPC 881, 2 units

Students are introduced to a set of theoretical frameworks and methodological tools to engage in qualitative inquiry in community and ecological settings. The participatory research paradigms presented draw on standard qualitative methods, along with Indigenous, visual, arts-based, participatory, and emergent methodologies. Stated inquiry goals to address the disruption of social, economic, and environmental injustice and coloniality. Research design within this framework requires that inquiry be conducted collaboratively with community members, to foster individual and group self-reflection, and to value and share local knowledge sources and strategies for social transformation.

Community/Ecological Fieldwork Practicum DPC 783, 5 units

This summer externship helps students to create a bridge from their growing theoretical knowledge of depth, community, indigenous, and liberation psychologies to cultural and ecological fieldwork that supports psychological and community well-being. Through participatory work in community settings connected to a contemporary cultural, community, or ecological issue that interests them, students explore and practice applications of depth psychology that extend beyond the consulting room. Pass/No Pass.

In this externship students either return to the site of their original fieldwork or choose a new one. Some fieldwork may involve the student in the ongoing work at that site; some may involve work that is initiated by the student in consultation with members of the community. This summer students also have the option to engage in a pilot piece of research in order to hone the research skills that will assist them in the work of their dissertation. Through deep listening to or dialogue with the community where they are working, students generate research questions that may be explored using various phenomenological/ heuristic/ hermeneutic/Indigenous methodologies and/or participatory action research approaches. Pass/No Pass.

Students reflect on and orally present their community and ecological fieldwork and research. They examine how depth, community, liberation, and ecopsychologies oriented their work and what their fieldwork can contribute to these psychologies. Through reflection on the array of fieldwork, students work toward discerning a phenomenology of decolonial depth psychological cultural and ecological work. Scholarly and community-based communication of fieldwork is explored, including approaches to oral presentation, development of posters, creation of videos, websites, and community publication venues.

Hermeneutic and Phenomenological Traditions DPC 991, 2 units

This course introduces students to hermeneutics and phenomenology, two broad philosophical traditions that underlie the theory and practice of research in depth psychology. Historical, conceptual, and methodological foundations of both traditions are examined. Critical problems and conundrums in the theory and practice of hermeneutics and phenomenology are addressed, as well as cultural and ethical perspectives and implications. Students gain hands-on practice in doing decolonial phenomenological analysis and feminist voice-centered analysis.

Social Network Analysis DPC 878, 1 unit

Students will learn the theory and methodological approaches to conduct Social Network Analysis. They will learn how to assess group and community relations and to determine pathways to improve community health, identifying key organizational and community assets to design and evaluate community and group interventions.

Advocacy and Policy Development DPC 886, 2 units

This course will focus on processes and outcomes of community advocacy that address policy development for sustainable systems change. Students will learn skills in analyzing the social, cultural, economic, and ecological impacts of policies. Strategies and interventions that mobilize communities to participate in advocacy and policy development from the bottom up will be highlighted. Further, students will understand, analyze, and evaluate diverse procedures such as rapid response briefs, bills, and ordinances to influence legislation. Depth psychological factors that influence community mobilization will shed light into conscious and unconscious dynamics that emerge in the process of coalition and partnership formations to effect sustainable policy change. Important lessons learned from community case studies will bring these strategies and techniques into real life scenarios from which students will learn how to apply skills to influence policy development for social and environmental justice.

Community Program and Organization Evaluation DPC 879 2 units

Students will learn to conduct community program and organizational evaluations using empowerment and participatory frameworks, as well as other types of evaluation data to determine processes and outcomes of interventions and collective action. Students will learn to interpret results and apply lessons learned for community and organizational growth and development. Particular emphasis will be given to the importance of worldview and political ideology in addressing evaluative inquiry and the framing of a participatory and empowering evaluation approach. Students will learn to design evaluations, develop evaluation plans, and align evaluation questions to program and organizational learning needs. In addition, students will learn to conduct needs assessments, define and prioritize program goals and objectives, and develop procedures and techniques to identify evaluation data sources and target population. Emphasis will be placed on participatory and empowering evaluation approaches that increase program sustainability.

Special Topics in Liberatory Qualitative Inquiry DPC 930 2 units

This course will explore current and emergent areas in qualitative inquiry, including new empiricisms, art-based methods, and Indigenous methodologies. Students will engage in practicum projects to develop theorization, data collection and analysis skills, with an emphasis on liberatory goals.

Students will work with a variety of qualitative interpretive frameworks, including visual, participatory action research, and thematic analysis, in order to learn how to strengthen their data collection skills. Students will apply various methodological approaches that promote participation, inclusion of diverse and conflicting voices and worldviews, and crystallization of data interpretation. By engaging together in research, students will deepen their sensitivity to ethical issues and the impact of social location within the structural factors that continue to maintain coloniality on data collection and interpretation, as well as practice strategies in the analysis of their own experiences. Students will learn how to use research results for transformative social change. Emphasis will be given to the importance of “giving psychology away” throughout the research process and in developing research products for community use and sustainable systems change.

Dissertation Development I DPC 932A, 2/3 unit

The Dissertation Development three-course sequence provides the framework for writing the Concept Paper, which serves as the basis for the dissertation proposal. The focus of the first course is on crafting a research question/area, establishing the purpose of the research, and drafting a literature review. Pass/No Pass.

Dissertation Development II DPC 932B, 2/3 unit

Students design a research methodology and ethical procedures for addressing their research question. Prerequisite: DPC 932A. Pass/No Pass.

Research Writing: Conceiving the Dissertation DPC 933, 5 units

This course is designed for the completion and approval of the concept paper. Students refine their research question and literature review, and hone their methodology for submission of a final concept paper. Prerequisites: DPC 932A, DPC 932B. Pass/No Pass.

Dissertation Writing DPC 980, 15 units

During this course, students assemble their dissertation committees, write their proposals, conduct their research, complete the dissertation process, and defend their dissertations in a public forum. This course may be taken concurrently with other courses. Additional fees are assessed for this course. Pass/No Pass. Prerequisites: DPC 932A, DPC 932B, DPC 933.

Pacifica's academic programs are subject to review and approval on multiple levels by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), the State of California Board of Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE), and the U. S. Department of Education.